Our fourth day of July 2009

We spent the 4th of July doing the traditional things that you might expect our family to do.

Here is a quick overview for those of you who were off doing your own traditional fourth of July activities.

1) Waking up. Alexia and I slept in the tent and Tanya and Mikayla slept in the house. The tent was much more comfortable at bedtime because the temperature dropped so quickly while the house remained way too hot. In the morning, the tent quickly heated up in the sun while the house was much more comfortable.

2) Sedro Woolley Parade. Mikayla, Alexia, Josie and Kat-rina were going to ride on the 4-H float in the parade, but Alexia realized that if she is IN the parade she doesn't get to collect all the candy tossed out by the rest of the parade participants. Plus, her friend Aryanna was coming to the parade. Alexia decided to sit with us instead of riding on the float.

Mikayla and Josie walked in the parade behind the float. They were entry #15 so Mikayla was able to come back to sit with us and still watch about 3/4 of the parade (and collect candy).

3) The kids were too hot after watching the parade and just wanted to go home to be lazy. So, we dropped them off at home, picked up our BFF Lynne and went out for a quick lunch.
4) After lunch I did some yard work while the kids swam and played with Aiden & Mitchell from next door.
5) We BBQ'd with the neighbors out on the patio.


At this point, I feel the need to elaborate just a bit about the BBQ.

First, on her first bite of steak, Mikayla started choking. She quickly stood herself up out of her chair stepped to the side of the table and yakked that steak right out and onto the patio. Blech.... but we were relieved that the situation didn't escalate. I have vivid memories of Aunt Rachel choking on stew meat when I was about Mikayla's age... so I was ready to jump into action if needed.

Second, for those observant blog readers/ photo reviewers, Mikayla is drinking Creme Soda. Not beer.

Third, you may have noticed an animal in this picture. Sure, it's not unusual to see pictures of animals in our family photos, but this is an animal you haven't seen here before.

The reason you haven't seen this dog before is because it isn't our dog. Mikayla found it wandering through the neighborhood as dinner was cooking and she jumped into Dr. Doolittle mode to save this guy. After a few phone calls to an owner (on vacation at Lake Chelan funny enough) who didn't seem appreciative at all that we were trying to get this dog back home we connected up with the person who is supposed to be watching the dog and sent him on his happy way.
6) Argued over who was / who was not going to go watch the fireworks show. Ultimately we all decided to go. The dogs stayed at home.
Here are a few pics and a video which shows the live finale at the end (less than 3 minutes total).






We all hope you had a safe and fun Independence Day.

~E